Apple's latest iPod and Apple TV event was notionally about the snazzy product line, but it also reveals how much Apple's future hinges on its house-brand ARM chips—the A4 silicon is now inside four keystone Apple gizmos.

The iPad has landed, rocketing its gleaming metal tech down on the dusty computing world to set up a new Tranquility Tablet base. But report after report notes the iPad is anything but "tranquil"—it's blazingly fast. Why? It kinda had to be.